praeludo

Forms

praelūdō (present infinitive praelūdere, perfect active praelūsī, supine praelūsum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin prae- (“before”) + lūdō (“to play”).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short and Gaffiot cite Pliny the Elder (37.19), where Nero sings beforehand by way of practice;^[5][6] the TLL records the verb from Statius and Gellius on.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb meant to play or sing beforehand as practice, and so to rehearse or prepare.^[5][4] Statius uses it for writing a preface to a work, Gellius with the dative of what is prefaced,^[6][2] and Rutilius Namatianus has pugnam praeludere, to prepare for a fight.^[5][6] Florus uses it of a trial attempt: the fury of Marius and Cinna had already “rehearsed” inside Rome.^[2][7]

From it came praelūdium, whose Medieval Latin form passed through French to give English prelude.^[8]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of Nero singing beforehand.^[5][6][9]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of a preface.^[6][3][9]
• c. 120 AD – Florus uses it of a trial attempt.^[2][9]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it with the dative.^[5][6][9]
• c. 417 AD – Rutilius Namatianus writes pugnam praeludere.^[5][6][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To play or sing beforehand, by way of practice; to rehearse.^[5][4]
2. To compose or perform a prelude to a longer or more serious work; to preface.^[2][6][1]
3. To make a trial attempt, to prepare for something.^[2][7][5]

Word family

• praelūsiō
• praelūdium

Related words

• English prelude

Usage notes

Manuscripts confuse it with praeclūdō, in Florus and in Ambrose.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de